You Are Christ’s Disciple - Do You Get It?

Thank you, Mr. Schmidt. We appreciate that. It's a beautiful piece. Hello, everyone! I also would like to welcome a number of guests that we have with us today and welcome all those who are watching on the webcast today. Appreciated the sermonette by Mr. Porter. I'm sure the Porter family is glad to have the libousinaires here, so very grateful for that as well. I did speak to Aaron Creech last night. He's the camp director for Winter Camp, and he said things were continuing to go very well as of last night, so we're very grateful for that. So keep praying. It'll end up well. And, you know, it's funny. We were there last year, my wife and I, and there was quite a bit of sickness last year. Makes you wonder if something was happening earlier than we realized last year. This year, it's gone very well, though, with basically no sickness, so that's really been great. Well, brethren, in the Gospel account in the Book of Mark, chapter 6, Jesus Christ talks about feeding 5,000 men with likely 15 to 25,000 people altogether, including women and children.

Then a second time, recorded in Mark 8, Christ fed around 4,000 people. That's what it says in the Book of Mark, but actually the Book of Matthew says that was not including women and children, so probably 10 to 15,000 at that point. Miraculously, in both cases, Jesus Christ does this with only a few loaves of bread and a few fish. They had more leftovers than what they had in the beginning, a lot more leftovers than what they had to begin with. So, certainly a miracle. No one had done anything like this before. No wonder Jesus Christ was drawing large crowds. Many people were flocking to hear Him, to see what He would do next. Now, after these two accounts, Jesus Christ told His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. The disciples' conclusion for Him saying this was essentially, because we forgot to buy bread, Jesus is disappointed in us, and this is why He is using the word leaven.

They just did not get it. You know, the disciples, right over the top of their head, they didn't get it. They did not understand the spiritual significance of what Jesus was saying, and also the warning that He was giving them. Why would He be concerned about whether or not they had brought enough bread? There was no way they could possibly bring enough bread, right? Not to feed the thousands, the ten thousands of people, the multitudes that were flocking to Christ. He had already miraculously multiplied the bread at least twice to feed all these people. So there was no problem with bread. Jesus was not talking about physical bread. He was not talking about physical leaven. This was not the first time that Christ's disciples didn't get it. There were plenty of other times when Jesus was somewhat frustrated by the disciples' lack of spiritual discernment and understanding.

Now, as Christ's modern-day disciples, do you get it? That's what I'd like to talk about today. Do you have good spiritual discernment and good spiritual understanding? Are you conducting yourself and living a life that is pleasing to our Heavenly Father and to Jesus Christ? Are you a true disciple, a true repentant follower of Jesus Christ? In other words, do you get it? Consider these questions as we continue through this sermon. Analyze in your own mind, how things are going. Be honest regarding your own personal spiritual conduct, your understanding, your discernment, decisions that you've made in the past.

Let's go to Mark chapter 8. Mark chapter 8. And this is actually right after the account of feeding thousands of people. Mark chapter 8. We'll start reading in verse 13.

And he, Christ, left them, and getting into the boat again, he departed to the other side. Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. Then he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread.

But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, he asked these questions, Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Notice he says, Still hardened. So that implies that it was hardened. Is it still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?

When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up? They said to him, Twelve. Now they were paying attention. They knew something very miraculous had happened there. Twelve baskets of fragments. Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up? And they said, Seven. So he said to them, How is it you do not understand? What do you think Christ was asking them? What were they missing?

Well, I think they were missing a few things.

So let's ask Jesus questions of ourselves. Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Do you personally perceive and understand what God is doing? What Christ is doing? Is your heart still hardened? If it ever was hardened, I know mine was at one point hardened. Hopefully not any longer. Hopefully it hasn't been for quite a while, although it's probably still got a little hardness there, right? We're not perfect, so we still continue to soften our hearts and yield ourselves more fully to Jesus Christ. Do you not see though you have eyes? Christ could be rather blunt, couldn't he? Do you not see though you have eyes? Do you not hear though you have ears?

How is it you do not understand? Now, I appreciated the opening prayer because in the prayer he asked God to open our eyes, to open our ears. And often we pray in that way, and that's that's good. We should be praying that God will open our hearts, our minds, our ears, our eyes, so that we can understand. In Mark chapter 4, let's go back just a few pages, Mark chapter 4 verse 11, Mark chapter 4 and verse 11.

And he said to them, Christ said to them, To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But to those who are outside, those who are not being called now, those who are not by disciples, all things come in parables so that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest they should turn and their sins be forgiven them. So they're not being called now. Now is not the only day of salvation. Now we understand that, and that's a huge understanding that we have in that regard. God is calling us to understand these things. He has opened up the mysteries of the kingdom of God to us, but we still have to humble ourselves, don't we? We still have to yield to God. We still have to soften our hearts and minds so that we are on the same wavelength as God our Father and Jesus Christ. At this point, the disciples were having difficulty grasping these spiritual concepts. They were having difficulty. So if you've had some difficulty, no wonder, we're human. We all have some difficulties at times understanding things. And of course, Christ's disciples were not yet converted at this time. They had not yet received God's Holy Spirit. It's little wonder that they were not getting it all spiritually. But, you know, they were there with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ taught them directly. They saw miracles He performed firsthand. I'll bet all of you would like to be there when a miracle like the ones Jesus Christ was performing. I would love to see that. I mean, I would love to see a few loaves and a few fishes somehow expand to feed 10,000 people, 15,000 people. I've never seen something. I've seen some miracles, so I don't know that I should say I haven't seen anything that miraculous, only in a different way. I've never seen a miracle quite like that one. So they saw miracles that He performed firsthand over and over again. If they had exercised real faith, they could have even performed miracles themselves. In fact, they did, didn't they? Before they were even converted. Do you remember who walked on the water?

That was before He was converted. And also, there were a number of disciples that Christ sent out that healed many people. This was before they were converted. Of course, God's Spirit was working with them, and Jesus Christ was working with them, giving them power. Under the New Covenant, you and I have been given God's Holy Spirit. If we've repented of our sins, if we've accepted Christ as our Savior, if we've been baptized, had hands laid upon us, then we have received the Spirit of God. And of course, it's important that all of us get it, right? This is our day of salvation.

We need to get it, and we need to get it well. We need to have spiritual discernment, good spiritual discernment, and good understanding. It's important that we understand God's Word, so obviously, if we're not opening it up very much, it's unlikely that you're going to have the best understanding. If you're not reading the Bible, if you're not studying it, if it's not important enough to you to crack it open each day, to look at it, to read it, to ponder it, as Mr. Porter said, even to memorize some of it, then I question whether our understanding is going to be nearly as great. You have to open up the Bible. You have to read it. You have to study it. You have to consider it. You have to think about it. Meditate on it. So that's certainly very important. Also, we need to exercise faith. Faith was huge back in the time of the disciples.

They needed to have faith. What happened to Peter? He was walking on the water, and then he began to doubt. He began to doubt, and he faltered. He fell. Christ grabbed him and brought him up. Doubt will do that to us. Doubt will do that to any of us, whether we have God's Spirit or not.

If we're prone to doubting a lot, and if we don't focus on God's truth and who God is and who Christ is, because that really was the biggest problem, the disciples were not understanding who that person was. That was right there performing all these miracles. He was the Son of God. He is the Son of God today. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.

So we have to have the same faith in Jesus Christ. Now, we haven't had the privilege of having him walk with us physically, but he has walked with us spiritually. He's been with us. He's given us strength. He's given us a great deal of courage at times. He is our strength, our buckler. We look to him for that.

When were Christ's disciples the most ineffective? Wasn't it primarily when they were lacking understanding, they were lacking discernment, and they were lacking faith? That's when they were the most powerless. Christ referred to his disciples as ones who had little faith.

He even asked, will I find faith on the earth? So that is a huge part of having spiritual discernment is, first of all, realizing who God is. Knowing God, knowing Jesus Christ, and having real faith in who they are and what they're doing in your life.

And, of course, that requires communication, right? It takes prayer. It takes time on your knees to talk to God, to get to know God, to think about what Jesus Christ has done for you and has done for me. These are all important aspects of having better understanding. If these things aren't the most important things in our lives, then we're just not going to get it.

Some of it's going to go over the top of our head, and we're not going to get it. Christ said, seek first the kingdom of God and my righteousness. Seek the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who is perfect. Seek that first, and then all these other things will be added to you. We should all, obviously, be asking God for greater faith.

You know, greater faith is a gift. God gives that gift, but not unless we ask. Ask, and you shall receive. So, if you haven't really been asking enough, start asking more. God's okay with that. That's something you can ask for over and over and over and over again. God wants to give you more faith. Notice Mark chapter 8 verse 11. And actually, this occurred in the book of Mark just between...

it was between the record or the recording of the miracle of feeding the many thousands. Then it says in verse 11, then the Pharisees came out after this event, and they began to dispute with him. You see, they were very jealous, weren't they? Christ had all these people coming to him, but the religious leaders of the day, they were threatened by that. They were threatened by that. They didn't like to see, you know, someone gaining that kind of popularity, someone that was more important to the people, than they were.

So the Pharisees came out, and they began to dispute with Christ, seeking from him a sign from heaven. You know, he had just performed wonderful miracles, but they wanted a sign now. Now, I don't believe this was a genuine request from them. They wanted a sign, presumably, to prove that he had great powers, but really it was an attempt to trip him up, to find fault in him in a certain way.

Ultimately, we know their plan was to kill him, and they accomplished that plan. The religious leaders of the day pulled that one off. The chief priests, you know, obviously Satan was behind it all. God allowed it. Jesus Christ's Father allowed that to happen, because that was always a part of the plan. So who were these Pharisees? Who were these religious leaders? Were they not highly respected leaders of the day?

I mean, everyone looked to them, right? They were very important in the eyes of the people. However, who were they in reality? They were actually, in one very real sense, the enemies of God and Jesus Christ. The people looked at them as great leaders, religious leaders, but they were actually enemies. They were enemies of Jesus Christ. They were enemies of God the Father, and they were enemies of the disciples, but the disciples hadn't yet figured that out. That was certainly part of what Christ was trying to tell them, to help them see.

Beware the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware the teaching of the Pharisees. Beware the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Be careful. Beware. The Pharisees were the descendants of those who had done what? They were the descendants of those who had killed the prophets. God had sent the prophets.

They prophesied the religious leaders of the day and also the political leaders, the kings of Israel and Judah. They didn't like what they were hearing oftentimes, and they opposed these prophets. In fact, they had many of them killed. So these were simply the descendants. Of those who had killed the prophets.

God had sent the prophets with instructions on how to live, to help straighten them out, to warn them that it was time to repent. It was time to change.

The people didn't get it, right? The people who killed the prophets didn't get it.

They didn't understand that God had sent those prophets and that they should humble themselves and follow the prophets. They didn't get it, and so they killed the prophets. Again, they were led by the religious and the political leaders of the day.

The disciples, also at Christ's time, as we have already said, they weren't getting it very well either. They said it's because we have no bread.

They didn't grasp the spiritual danger that they were in from the religious rulers of the day. They did not grasp fully who Jesus Christ is.

And what about Herod?

Oftentimes we forget that Herod is included here. Well, Herod, this was Herod Antipas.

He was from a line of Jewish political leaders who opposed God.

Remember Herod the Great? This was his father, Antipas' father. He was the one who attempted to kill Christ as a baby.

The next Herod, that is after Antipas, so it was Herod the Great, then Antipas, and then the next Herod was a grip of the first. Later on, he had the apostle James killed. He also attempted to have Peter killed. The scripture tells us about this. These kings and rulers were clearly enemies of Christ. They were enemies of the disciples.

One of them had John the Baptist killed. I think that was Antipas.

So, as modern-day disciples of Christ, brethren, we need to get it.

We need to understand what God is doing and what he wants us to do right now.

We need to be faithful disciples of Christ to understand what he wants us to focus upon, what he wants us to become, what he wants his disciples to be. And the scripture tells us all of this. That's why we have to study it.

It talks about producing the fruit of God's Holy Spirit.

That's what we're to be about doing. That's what we are to be. We're to become love. We're to become joy. We're to become peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, meekness, humility, gentleness, self-control. That's what we are to become as the disciples of Jesus Christ.

That's spiritual understanding.

That's discernment, realizing that that is what you are to be now. This is your day of salvation. It's more important than anything else you're going to spend your time on.

Learning to become like your Savior, Jesus Christ. So we need to firmly believe in Jesus Christ. We need to firmly believe in our Heavenly Father and what they stand for. This is what they stand for. They've given it to us. And it's even in here. It's in Greek and Hebrew in here. I mean, it's amazing the tools that God has given us. So there really is little excuse for not knowing the Bible.

For not studying it. For not gleaning from it what we all desperately need.

Too many of our brethren in the past, frankly, have been led astray because they lacked spiritual discernment.

They lacked understanding.

And it could happen to any of us. So I'm not elevating us above anyone else.

Many of those people sat right here and listened to sermons probably very similar to this one. But I'm telling you that many of them— I'm not judging this, by the way. You know, God is their judge. I'm not, but I'm quite confident to say that many of them didn't have the spiritual discernment to be able to see through the test that God was bringing upon them. God allows us to be tested, right?

There was a huge test on the Church of God back in the 1990s. The 1990s. That was a big test.

Not everyone passed the test.

Many didn't have the doctrinal understanding. To see them through those difficult times.

Perhaps they just, for whatever reasons, weren't getting it. You know, maybe they had studied the Bible, but maybe they just were not humble enough, or maybe they wanted to do things that they had looked at as a burden.

The Scripture says that God's law is not burdensome, right? The Sabbath is not a burden. The Sabbath is a tremendous blessing. But some people were looking at the Sabbath as a burden.

They weren't appreciating the Sabbath. They weren't being so grateful for the truth that God had revealed to them. So they quickly walked away from it.

When someone came along, a religious leader of the day, who gave them an excuse, right? Isn't that essentially what happened?

Some of us could see through that.

We realize that that was not the way to go. God was working with us, helping us.

So we're going to be tested again. We're going to be tested in the future. God isn't finished. He's perfecting us. He's refining us. He is working with us in special ways that we don't even begin to comprehend or understand. We don't know what all God is doing.

But, rather, we need to be able to recognize our real enemies.

We need to be able to recognize our real enemies. And oftentimes, the enemy is us. You've heard that before, right?

If we're not applying ourselves, then we're our own worst enemy. If it's not important enough to us, then we're our own worst enemy.

But there are other enemies out there, and we have to be close to God. There will be other religious leaders that will come on the scene. Scripture tells us about that, right?

There's going to be a false prophet who's going to deceive the whole world. And who has deceived the whole world but Satan the devil? Satan will be behind this false prophet, but many will flock to this false prophet. There will be a beast power, a political power that will rise up.

And many will take the mark of the beast. Those are decisions that will need to be made by anyone who's living at the time.

Will it be you? Will it be me? I can't tell you. But I know this is our day of salvation, and so it behooves us to prepare ourselves as fully as possible for whatever may come down the pike, as they say, whatever comes ahead.

In the future, if anyone, a religious leader or a political leader, if they encourage us or command us to go against God's way or against biblical principles, then we're going to need to stand firm. We're going to need to stand in the gap. We're going to need to be counted.

Now is the calm, I believe, before the storm. Now, I don't know how soon the storm is coming, but I believe now is the calm before the storm. It's relatively calm, even though we've had a very interesting year. It's been an interesting year, but it could have been a whole lot worse, and it's going to be a whole lot worse. It's going to get worse. According to the Bible, if we're living in the very last days and it appears that we are, then it's going to get worse. How soon? Again, five years, 10 years, 2021? I know it's hard to think, could 2021 be worse than 2020?

It's not something we really want to contemplate a whole lot. Hopefully it won't be.

Hopefully it will go back to a greater deal of normalcy. We can throw our masks away and have that big mask-burning party that I've been saying that one day we need to have.

But, brother, I know this. Now is the time to prepare ourselves as fully as possible for the return of Jesus Christ. And before those cataclysmic events begin to truly happen upon this earth, we're going to have to choose wisely. As was mentioned, this world is making New Year's resolutions now. I'm not into that, but I do believe in making resolutions and in preparing for the Passover. It'll be here before we know it. It'll come quickly. It's not too early to begin thinking about preparing ourselves, examining ourselves, looking at ourselves, and asking ourselves, do I get it? Am I fully on board?

We know that Christ gave us a great deal of teaching in His Word. The Sermon on the Mount is so full of instruction for us, for His disciples, memorizing the Sermon on the Mount. I think that would be awesome if we all had the Sermon on the Mount memorized. It wouldn't take that long. Right, Clint? Just three chapters. It wouldn't take all that long. But seriously, we do need to study the Word of God. Study the Sermon on the Mount carefully. Learn to love your enemies. Learn to pray for them. Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

Beware of your own thoughts that may lead to sinful acts. You know, if you allow your thoughts to go unchecked, we're told to bring every thought into captivity. It's not easy to do. It's difficult. It takes a lot of diligence and vigilance in order to do that.

Christ, we know, is going to provide all of our needs. Just as He was providing the needs of the disciples who were with Him back when He was walking the earth, Christ primarily focused on their spiritual needs, not their physical ones. He was teaching them about love, about righteousness, about repentance. He was proclaiming His coming Kingdom. He was instructing them on how to treat each other. He was showing them that they're not to rule over others, but they're to be servants of others. That they should have that love that comes from them in helping the poor and the needy, the sick, the afflicted. Yes, He healed many. He miraculously cast out demons, healed all types of ailments. He even resurrected a few back to life. That's the power of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And again, He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. So really, you don't need to fear if you'll put your trust in Him. If you realize that He's there for you, that He has promised to never leave you, to never forsake you, and if you truly believe that, then you will have spiritual discernment much better than if you don't, obviously. You know, God will grant you that right. But obviously, it's more about the spiritual things. Those are the things that really matter. Now, Christ took care of the physical things, too. He fed thousands at times. He had compassion on them. They didn't have a lot of food. They didn't bring food. So He took care of them. And God will take care of us as well in physical ways. But again, the most important thing is that we get the spiritual matters and that we're not blind and that we can hear as well.

Jesus clearly was the Son of God. He had tremendous capability.

He healed some of blindness, of leprosy, issues of blood, deafness, speech impediments. Nothing was too hard for Jesus.

So we have to have faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ. Perhaps we should read the accounts and the Gospels about Christ and all the healing and all the miracles that He performed. Read them over and over and over again until we really believe them. And they come flooding back during times of difficulty. If someone can do all of that, and He died for me, and He's at the right hand of the Father, and He's my intercessor, He intercedes for me, He knows my every thought, He is there for us. So, brethren, beware the leaven, beware the teaching and the hypocrisy of anyone who would oppose God.

Satan and his followers are out to get us all.

Satan is that roaring lion. He is seeking whom He may devour, and He's devoured quite a few. When you look back and consider the history, even of the Church of God, He's devoured quite a few. Let us not be one of them.

In Mark 8, verse 31, Mark 8, verse 31, And he, Jesus Christ, began to teach them, His disciples, that the Son of Man must suffer many things. How could this be? Someone so powerful, so mighty, He's going to suffer many things. How could this be? And be rejected by the elders, by the chief priests, by the scribes that were so highly respected, by the normal average person of the day, by the Jew, and be killed. And after three days, rise again. He spoke this word openly. Jesus spoke this word to them openly. Then Peter took him aside. Now Peter took him aside because, you know, he wanted to set him straight.

He took him aside and began to rebuke him. Not a good idea.

But when he had turned around and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get behind me, Satan. Anyone who picks up a satanic attitude is essentially doing God's bidding, or doing Satan's bidding. And that's exactly what Peter was doing at this time. Peter, a disciple of Jesus Christ, who meant well, his intentions were good, but he didn't have understanding. So he rebuked Peter, saying, Get behind me, Satan, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. And of course, he goes on to talk about taking up the cross and following him and what that would take to truly be his disciples. We must be willing to give up everything. We may not have to, but we must be willing to. That's the wholehearted approach that God is expecting from his people. So Peter just didn't get it. At first, he didn't get it, right? But what about Peter in the end? You know, he denied Christ three times. Not long after this. As things were coming to pass that Jesus had predicted, Peter denied him, even though he couldn't fathom he would ever deny Christ. He did it three times. He was weak. The flesh is weak. So we must not look to the flesh, right? If we look to the flesh, if we think we've learned so much, we've grown so much, we're so strong and so faithful and so anything, take heed lest you fall.

It's humility that will help us see the truth. We are weak. We're a weak people. We are only made strong in Jesus Christ. It's in Christ that I can do all things. So if we ever lose sight of that, we're in real trouble. Peter, as we know, repented bitterly of denying Christ. He preached a very powerful sermon on the day of Pentecost when God granted his spirit, when his spirit was poured out on him and many others. Peter became a real disciple of Christ, a real follower, a faithful follower. So much so, even his shadow passing over some would bring healing. The book of Acts talks about that, about even his shadow would pass over and some would be healed. So let's not be discouraged if we don't get it completely.

Peter didn't get it and look how far he went. Many of you have been very faithful people. Some of you, for 40, 50, even 60 years, that's a long time to hang in there and to be faithful and keep on keeping on, even though things aren't happening perhaps as quickly as you would have thought. So we are certainly, I believe, in many ways pleasing to God. You know, we're dedicated people in many ways. You know, when I look at you, I see dedicated people. I see people who really have given their lives over to following Jesus Christ. Why else would you be here on a Saturday?

I'm sure there's a good football game on somewhere. But no, we're here. We're here worshipping God and that's a good thing and God does not overlook that. He does not take that lightly.

The Apostle John didn't get it at first either, but John became a very powerful, effective servant of God. Remember, he was imprisoned on the island of Patmos at a very old age, but he wasn't done and God brought visions to him. He wrote the book of Revelation. Well, on the island of Patmos. And by the way, Mr. Porter was talking about someone memorizing large chunks. Well, my wife and I were on the Isle of Patmos and there was a priest who had memorized the entire Old Testament. And we quizzed him and he did not miss a beat. Now, we would say a verse and out it would come. You know, we had someone with a phone checking him. He had memorized the entire Old Testament. Now, he was quite old. He had a long gray beard. He had some time to work on it. So if you start now, you know, who knows? All right. So, the Apostle John, though, was a fantastic servant to God. The Apostle Paul was another one. He was one who had killed some of God's people. God struck him down on the road to Damascus, opened his eyes, called him, showed him a better way. And Paul yielded himself and surrendered himself. And he finally had good understanding. Once he had persecuted Christ and his followers, now he was one. So, tremendous transformations can happen when we yield ourselves to God. When we humble ourselves and ask God to work in us and through us, God can do all things.

Jesus essentially told his disciples, I have the power to provide all the bread you'll ever need.

Don't worry about the bread. Don't worry about any of the physical things. Get your minds off the earthly, the physical, and embrace who I am. Embrace me and embrace who you are to become.

We are the servants of the Most High God. You are a servant of the Most High God. God does expect more of us. So put your mind on spiritual things. Lay up treasures in heaven. In Daniel 11, let's just go to a couple scriptures in Daniel as we wrap this up. In Daniel 11, and Daniel was another one, wasn't he? An awesome servant of God. What an example Daniel set under trial and duress. No, Daniel didn't give in. Daniel stood up for the truth and for what's right. In Daniel 11, in verse 32, notice what it says here in verse 32. Let's see. 32. Those who do wickedly against the covenant. He's talking about, these are prophecies of what are to come to past in the future. They haven't yet happened. He says, Those who do wickedly against the covenant. He shall corrupt with flattery, but the people who know their God shall be strong. He's talking about us. He's talking about the disciples of Christ at the end time. In the last days, he's saying, but the people who know their God shall be strong and they shall carry out great exploits. God can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and strengthens you. God can do all things. He can do great exploits. And those of the people who understand, again, we're talking about spiritual understanding. He says, they shall instruct many. There will be people when all of this is happening and things are getting worse and worse and this world is falling apart and the plagues are coming down and the great tribulation and everything that's happening. There will be people who are seeking answers and wanting help. And those who understand, they will teach the others. They will instruct many. Yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame by captivity and by plundering. It isn't going to be easy either. There will be those who will fall. Those who will have to be martyred. You know, we know the scripture tells us that. There's going to be a whole gamut of things that will be occurring. The main thing is that we have to be prepared and the better off, the better we are prepared, the more effectively we're going to be able to serve God and do His will. The more we know Him, the greater exploits God will accomplish through us. And then in Daniel 12, notice verse 9 and 10, verse 9, and He said, Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, made white, and refined.

But the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. It is God who gives us wisdom, but we have to seek wisdom.

We have to, again, use this book because there's tremendous wisdom in the book that God has given to us. So, brethren, we've all been called now to be two disciples of Jesus Christ, to understand, to lead the way, and to rule and reign with Christ. As disciples of Christ, now our conduct and behavior should reflect God's character as closely as possible for a human being.

Yes, we're still human.

So, for a human being, we should reflect the character of God. We're not God, but we're made in His image. So, we should look like Him. Jesus Christ is God, and we know that. He's perfect. He's sinless. We aren't, but our goal is to strive for that spiritual perfection, for that maturity, because God tells us to become holy even as I am holy, as He is holy. So, we are called to a wonderful calling, to high, and a holy calling, to become like God, to become like Christ. Christ wants us to see, He wants us to use this time now to prepare spiritually, to grow strong spiritually. He wants us to have sound spiritual discernment, so we can make sound spiritual decisions in the future. God wants us to have real, genuine faith in Him and in His Son. He wants us to learn to truly rely on them.

So, brethren, you have a precious calling as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Do you get it?